Fuel tanks may be located within the outboard portion of wings of an aircraft, and are referred to as wing tanks. Some types of aircraft may include multiple main tanks and a reserve tank located within each wing. The aircraft may also include a center wing tank located within a fuselage of the aircraft. The center wing tank may also include an inboard portion of the wings on some aircraft. The center wing tank may also be located proximate to a heat source. One example of a heat source proximate to the center wing tank is an air conditioning (AC) pack, which is part of an environmental control system (ECS) of the aircraft. Although the aircraft consumes liquid fuel, the fuel tanks within the aircraft all contain some amount of air and fuel vapor above the upper surface of the fuel, which is commonly referred to as ullage. During relatively long flights a large quantity of fuel may be consumed, which in turn increases the ullage volume in the fuel tanks of the aircraft. The ullage may contain reactive components such as oxygen and fuel vapors. Additionally, the ullage may also contain other gases or vapors from the atmosphere, or that are generated by the aircraft and routed into the fuel tanks.
The center wing tank's proximity to heat sources, such as the AC packs, may increase the temperature of the fuel as well as the reactive components contained within the center wing tank of the aircraft. Some types of aircraft currently available may include an inerting system that provides an inerting gas to the center wing tank as well as the other fuel tanks within the aircraft, thereby altering the ullage gas composition. However, there exists a continuing need in the art for other types of simple, cost-effective approaches for managing the reactive components within the ullage of an aircraft.